Portable photographic camera



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1;.- S. G. NASH.

PORTABLE PHOTOGRAPHIG CAMERA.

No. 350,315. Patented Oct. 5,1886.

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(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2. S. C. NASH.

PORTABLE PHOTOGRAPHIO CAMERA. No. 350,316. Patented Oct. 5, 1886.

dwwr hm/ @j W 7 {WW M W N. PETERS. Pnm-Lnm w, Washlngtnn. L. c.

(No Model.) S 0 NASH 4 SheetsSheet 3.

PORTABLE PHOTOGRAPHIO CAMERA.

No. 850,315. Patented Oct. 5,1886.

Q2356 had/Z N PETERS Pmmmm m mr, Washlnglnm D. c.

4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

(No Model.)

S. G. NASH.

PORTABLE PHOTOGRAPHIU CAMERA.

N0. 350,315. Patented Oct. 5, 1886.

N PETERS. Phuwunw n mr. Wlihinglon, D. c,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SGOTTO O. NASH, OF HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

PORTABLE PHOTOGRAPHIC CAMERA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 350,315, dated October 5, 1886.

Application filed January 2, 1886.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SooTTo CLARK NASH, of Harrisburg, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in Portable Photographic Cameras, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates toimprovements upon and modifications of the camera shown in my Patent No. 315,156.

In the drawings, Figure I is a vertical sec-.,

tion of the camera. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan through the shaft that turns the belt of plateholders. Fig. 3 is an elevation at one side of the camera. Fig. 4. is a partial plan view of the adjusting device and of the arms for moving the sectional covering-plates. Fig. 5 is a section showing the arms for turning the sectional covering-plates. Fig. 6 is a section, in larger size, of the adjusting and holding device for the focus-glass and plates. Fig. 7 is a view, in enlarged size, at right angles to Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is a detached view of the sectional coveringplates. Fig. 9 is an elevation of'the lensholding disk and slide. Fig. 10 is a detached elevation of the support for the axle, the bushing for the axle, and the bow that acts as guide for the pins on the plate-holders; and Fig. 11 represents the cover that is applied to the out side of the camera.

The box A of the camera is usually provided with a plate, a, by which it is screwed to the top of a tripod or stand. Upon this plate is a box, B, that contains the chain or belt of sensitized plates, hereinafter described. The base is rabbeted around its edges for the reception of the lower edges of the camera-box, so as to exclude light, and the parts may be screwed together. The side pieces, a, are permanently connected to the base A, and are within the camera-boX.

The axle 0 passes through the box, and also through the metallic side pieces, o in which are bushings (0. (Shown separately in Fig. 10.) Thesebushingshavesquareholcsthrough them for the square axle c, and hence the bushings are turned with the axles, and each bushing has a cylindrical journal entering a circular opening in the side piece, a forming a bearing in which the bushing may be revolved. Upon the projecting edges of the bushing are Serial No.187,320. (No model.)

four rounding notches for receiving the pins a upon the edges of the plate-holders E. These plate-holders are frames joined together by a belt of canvas or similar material securely attached to the edges of such holders, and the thickness of the plate-holding frames corresponds to the thickness of the square shaft; hence the chain of plate'holders will be moved and one holder brought up to place each quartenrevolution of the axle c, and by that revo lution the plateholders are brought up in succession from the rear of the axle c, and conveyed down in front of such axle 0, there being a partition, h, beneath the axle.

There may be a spring upon the base A to partially support the weight of the plateholders; but by providing the metallic bows a, which are outside the metallic bearing-pieces a so as to leave between these two parts slots that are parallel with the partition h, the pins a will remain in such slots and keep the belt and the edges of the plateholders closely against the faces of the partition h, so that the plate-holders will be supported and stand out like brackets from the partition. It is advantageous to place upon the two end frames or portions of the belt of plate-holders small bracket-pieces a that project downwardly against the surfaces of the partition h, and aid in supporting the weight of the plate holders. The ends of these brackets a pass into recesses in the bed A.

In Fig. 1 I have shown a covering-plate, ic that forms the end section in the chain of plates and serves to protect plate No. 1 while the other plates are being exposed.

The camera-box is inadcwith a top, N, sides M, and a cover, P, which cover is opened to observe the mousing-glass and closed to exclude light before the plate is brought into position for taking the picture. The cover 1? is provided with side pieces, P pivoted to the camera-box at P", and the lower ends, P", are made with holes and spring over pins in the camera-box as the cover is closed down, so as to hold the same.

There is preferably a bellows-extension, N, between the camera-box and the frame Othat carries the lens-holder, and the rack-bars O are fastened at their outer ends to this frame and slide through the loops 0, and are moved by the knobs O and their gear-wheels, so as to adjust the camera and focus the object, or nearly so, as the lens-tube Q is usually made with an adjustment. The rack-bars O are of comparatively thin sheet metal that will spring and allow for one rack-bar to be set out farther than the other, and thereby incline the frame 0 and lens more or less to the axis This is sometimes a conven= of the camera. ience 'in directing the focus upon some particular partof the plate.

The septum-plate Q is capable of being slid transversely of the camera in the slides that are provided for it at the front of the frame 0.

,The lens-tube Q is set into a metallic disk, Q,

V on a strip of canvas, and it is slipped in over the plates as they lie within the receptacleor box, and there is an end piece, 0 and lush facing to exclude light, and stops c", to prevent the lid being drawn entirely out.

The focusing-glass s is by preference in the end plate-holding frame, as seen in Fig. 1.

It is brought up to place and held, and thelid c is slipped in to entirely exclude light from the sensitized plates in the chain of plateholders before the cover 1? is raised or the lens-tube opened. After the focus has been adjusted the cover I is closed, the lens-tube covered, thelid c drawn back, and the chainof plate-holders is revolved until the proper plate is brought up to position. Such plate is then held as next described and occupies the precise place of the surface of the ground glass, the exposure is made, and the chain of plate-holders turned back to confine them within the box B. In so doing the focusing-glasssis brought up to place, the lid 0 is closed in, and the camera can be opened to focus another picture.

Each plate-holder in Fig. 1 is adapted to one sensitized plate. it has a permanentlyclosed back of sheet metal, a spring to press the plate forward, and nibs of sheet metal at 6 under which the edge of the platei is slipped, and a spring, 6", of sheet metal within the frame to act upon the edge of the sensitized plate 1' and hold it up behind such nibs c and there are nibs e at the outer ends of the spring 6, behind which the lower edge of the plate is placed as the said plate is entered. These nibs, being in the same plane, hold the sensi tized plate in place and do not injure the picture, and the plate is easily removed by pressing it down against the spring until its edge is lifted clear of the nibs e Upon each plate-holder is a plate, 11., with a mortise behind it, and the adjusting and holding device is in the form of a fork, 1', that is square in the shank and passes through a mortise in the top of the camera. The outer end -of this fork is round and has upon it a cylinder with a button-head, r. The spring 7* within the tubular case 1 serves to project the fork and cylinder outwardly; but the screw or pin 25 in the notched slot in the case r limits its movement.

When the pin 25 is in the outer end of the slot, the fork 1' is entirely out of the way of the focusing-glass and plateholders'. \Vhen the fork is pushed in and the parts turned so that the pin 25 is held in the first notch, the longer and forward end of the fork r is brought in the path of the plate to and stops the same, and when the fork is pressed in its rear prong passes down behind the plate a and the holder and plate are reliably held in place. It, however, is important to swing the top of the focusing-glass backwardly or forwardly to render the focus more perfect, or to bring the vertical lines of the objects vertically upon the plate. To allow for this I mount the adjusting and holding fork and vits parts upon the plate 7", that is upon the top of the camera, and can slide back or forth between stationary frictional guides o Figs. 4 and 6, the hole through the cameratop being elongated to allow of this move:

ment, and the plate 7' entirely covering the The fork 1" remains in the position to same. which it may have been placed after the focusing-glass is swung down. and stops and holds the sensitized plate in precisely the same position.

In order to cover any portion of the plate, I make use of a shield iufour sections. The sections 1: o are upon tubular axles 30 at the inner sides of the camera. The sections o '0 are upon solid axles 31, passing through the tubular axles 30, and at the upper ends the respective axles are provided with springarms M0 o o, beneath the respective covering-plates a that are. slotted segmentally for the upper ends of the spring-arms to pass through, so that any one or more of the sectional shields may be swung up in front of the sensitized plate or focusing-glass, and a small prong at the end of the spring-arm is used to hold the same and its shield by springing up into the recess in the under surface of the covering-plate '0 The end of the arm is pressed down to disconnect this prong before swinging the section either way.

A follower-strip, o", is mounted upon each axis 31, opposite the joint between the pairs of shields, and a spring, 12 tends'to swing this with the shields, but it is kept back by either the upper or lower shield, and it is swung by the spring and covers the joint between the upper and lower shield when these two shields areused at the same time to cover half the plate. I

In order to revolve the axles c, the'knobs Z and Z are provided, and to one of the knobs, preferably the right-hand one, a gearwheel, Z is fastened, and upon the side of the box there is a dial of paper or other suitable material. It is preferable to clamp this dial .of paper between the small disk Z and thenut Z and this nut is of larger diameter than the disk, so as to retain a circular plate that is be hind the dial Z, and surrounds and turns freely upon the disk Z, and the rim Z of this circular plate forms a count-wheel, there being teeth upon its periphery gearing into the wheel upon the knob Z, and there is an internal pointer that passes over the surface of the dial. This dial has as many figures upon it as there are holders in the chain of plate-holders. These figures are preferably circular and made with vertical and horizontal lines passing through the centers of the circular figures.

The relative sizes of the gearing are such that for every quarterturn of the axle c the pointer on the count-wheel is moved from one circle onthe dial to the next, and the operator places the circular figure of the dial marked focusing-glass opposite to the pointer,w]1en the focusing-glass IS in place, and the pointer is moved to another circular figure on the dial each time the axle c is rotated a quarter-turn, and another plate-holder brought up vertically. If a picture is taken on the entire plate, the operator marks all the quarters of that circle; but if only a half or a quarter of the plate is made use of the dial is marked accordingly in the quarter-circle sections; hence the operator can tell by inspection what plates have been used and bring into position any desired plate, or any part of any plate, and after a picture has been taken the knobs are turned to remove the plates back into the storage plateholderand to bring the focusingglass into position, and this is indicated upon the dial by the pointer.

The flexible cover Z for the camera is usually made of black plush lined with a soft black fabric. I make the same with side and top portions united to a front piece, as seen in Fig. 11, and this front piece has an opening through it and a flap, 25 to cover the lensholder. The flexible cover is connected to the front frame of the camera by tacks or buttons at t, so that it cannot become misplaced, and it hangs loosely and aids in keeping out light, and also facilitates the inspection of the focusing-glass,especially as the flap P, as it is lifted, raises with it the flexible cover and prevents the same falling down between the operator and the glass.

I claim as my invention 1. The range of plate-holders connected to gether by the belt of flexible material, in combination with the polygonal axle for removing the same, the pins a in the plate-holders, and the metallic support a and guide-piece a, between -which such pins are sustained, substantially as set forth.

2. A range of plate-holders connected together by a belt, and a frame and a focusingglass at the end of the range of plate-holders, in combination with the polygonal axle, the camera and the box for receiving the plateholders, and a movable lid to inclose the sensitized plates, substantially as set forth.

3. The range of plate-holders and the focusingglass connected to a belt of flexible material, and a cover also connected to the same belt, in combination with the polygonal axle to move such belt, a partition below such axle, and the receptacle for such plates, and the camerabox, substantially as set forth.

4-. The combination, with the polygonal axle and the partition below the same, of the range of plate-holders, the connectingbelt of flexible material, the pins upon the plate holders, the plates with slots for such pins, and the bracketpieces on the end covers or frames, to aid in supporting the pile of moving platesholders, substantially as set forth.

5. The camerabox having a bellows extension and a front frame for supporting the lensholder, in combination with the racks of flexr ble sheet metal and connected to the front frame, and the knobs and wheels for moving the sameand allowing a lateral swinging adjustment for the lens-holder, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination, with the lens-holder and camera-box having an end frame, 0, of a septum-plate, Q, having a central opening and capable of being adjusted laterally in slides upon the frame 0, and a disk covering the opening and to which the lens -holder is attached eccentrically, and supports for connecting the disk to the septum and allowing it to be revolved to vary the position of the lens-holder to the septum, substantially as specified.

7'. The combination, with the sectional shields within the camera-box and theirtubular and solid axis, of springarms attached to the respective axes, and segmentallyslotted plates beneath which the spring-arms are moved, substantially as set forth.

8. The combination, with sectional shields, of the follower strips and the springs to actuate the same, for the purposes and as specified.

9. The combination, with the belt, plateholders, and the axis for moving the same, of a forked stop and a movable plate for supporting the same, and by which such stop can be adjusted to incline the focusing-glass and plate more or less, substantially as specified.

10. The plateholders, each having a closed back and spring, in combination with the nibs e on the frame, and the spring 6", that acts against the edge of the plate, and'the nibs on such spring, as set forth.

11. The combination, with the belt of plateholders and the axle for moving the same, of a countwheel and a wheel on the axle to move the same, a stationary nut upon the camerabox, around which the count-wheel revolves, a

movable dial in front of the stationary nut Signed by me this 26th day of December, 10 and the count-whee], an da clamp for holding A. D. 1885." the dial firmly against the stationarynut, substantially as specified. SCOTTO G. NASH. 5 12. The combination, with the camera,of

the flexible covei attached to the front frame, Witnesses: O, of. the camera, and having an opening for G. E. HICKS, the lens-tube and a flap to cover and secure the J. L. WVEAVER. cap of the lens-holder, substantially as set forth. 

